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EMERGING MARKETS-Asian stocks make cautious gains, helped by stimulus hopes

(Repeats for additional subscribers, no change to text) * Philippine stock markets were shut due to a holiday * Thai cenbank briefing awaited on Wednesday * South Korea stocks fall 1% * Dollar will decline 5%-10% against most currencies in 2021 - ING By Anushka Trivedi Dec 8 (Reuters) - Most emerging Asia stock markets eked out gains on Tuesday as expectations for U.S. economic stimulus broadly supported global appetite for riskier assets, though fresh concerns about the coronavirus pandemic capped sentiment. Stock markets in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia gained up to 0.2% following a mixed Wall Street session as concerns over record case numbers in California weighed on sentiment. Markets are also closely watching for developments in Washington where lawmakers are due to vote this week on a stopgap funding bill to provide more time for them to reach a deal on a bigger COVID-19 relief package. "On any other day, we could have had this news flow and still pushed higher in risk, so this selective mindset is just the market sitting on its hands waiting for the next shoe to drop," said Chris Weston, head of research at Melbourne brokerage Pepperstone. Meanwhile, South Korea's stock index slumped 0.9% after five session of gains, while the won slipped as authorities there warned that total coronavirus cases could spike to 900 next week which could "collapse" the country's health system. However, the government on early Tuesday said it had signed deals with four companies to provide coronavirus vaccines for 44 million people. Philippine equities did not trade due to a holiday. In the Asian currency markets, most units firmed against a subdued greenback, with Taiwan's dollar gaining 1%. Possible U.S. fiscal stimulus and promising vaccine updates recently have raised hopes for an economic recovery next year, which has kept the dollar in check. Analysts at ING expect the safe-haven currency to weaken by 5%-10% in 2021 against most units. "In Asia, we expect a continuation of gains of those currencies with large weights in emerging market benchmark indices – the yuan, won and the Taiwanese dollar," they added. The baht firmed just 0.1% ahead of a Bank of Thailand briefing on Wednesday where it will unveil measures to contain the currency's appreciation. HIGHLIGHTS ** Thailand's 10-year government bond yields are down 2.5 basis points at 1.275% ** Top gainers on the Thailand's SETI: Max Metal Corporation PCL up 100% and B-52 Capital PCL up 26.3% ** Top gainers on the Singapore STI: Jardine Strategic Holdings Ltd up 2.9% and Mapletree Commercial Trust up 2.4% Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0426 GMT COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX INDEX STOCKS DAILY % STOCKS YTD % DAILY YTD % % Japan +0.03 +4.40 -0.31 11.88 China -0.09 +6.54 -0.25 11.73 India +0.00 -3.40 0.40 10.20 Indonesia -0.14 -1.56 0.19 -5.67 Malaysia +0.07 +0.54 0.18 2.33 Philippines +0.03 +5.22 - -7.83 S.Korea -0.18 +6.67 -0.88 23.83 Singapore +0.01 +0.62 0.00 -12.32 Taiwan +0.97 +6.53 0.43 19.35 Thailand +0.10 -0.70 1.02 -7.29 (Reporting by Anushka Trivedi in Bengaluru; Editing by Sam Holmes)